Mawazine Festival, Rabat, May 15 2009

[Al-khiyal]

Mawazine Festival headliners include Warda, Alicia Keys

February 19, 2009 -- Musicians from 40 countries, including Algeria's legendary Warda Al Jazayria and Americans Stevie Wonder and Alicia Keys, will perform at the 8th Mawazine Rhythms of the World Festival in Rabat, organisers announced on Thursday (February 19th). Other world music stars set to participate: Hussein El Jasmi, Kazem al-Saher, Samira Saïd, Najwa Karam, Australia's Kylie Minogue, Italy's Ennio Morricone, Brazil's Sergio Mendes and Morocco's Fethellah Lamghari, Aziza Malak, Stati, Fez City Clan, Ganga Vibes, Casa Crew and Groupe Jaaba. The 8-day event begins May 15th.

[Al-khiyal]

Mawazine to set the bar high with this year's festival

February 25, 2009 -- Music fans in the Maghreb are eagerly awaiting the 8th Mawazine Festival, which promises to feature renowned performers from around the world.

This year’s edition will take place May 15th through the 23rd in Rabat under the theme "Rhythms of the World".

Although Mawazine is already one of Morocco's most important festivals, the goal this year is to make it even bigger, both nationally and internationally.

"Mawazine’s artistic and cultural diversity is this event’s prime calling, namely opening up to the music and cultures of countries all over the world," Aziz Seghrouchni, the festival’s deputy chairman, said in a news conference last Wednesday in Rabat. "It is a source of cultural riches and it is able to break away from the idea of a single or dominant cultural model."

Australian Kylie Minogue will get the party started.

Also on the performers list are white Zulu Johnny Clegg, Italian Ennio Morricone, American Alicia Keys, the group Ska Cubano and guitarist Eliades Ochoa – both from Cuba – Brazilian Sergio Mendes, and Americans Solomon Burke and The Neville Brothers.

Other performers include Algeria's legendary singer, Warda Al Jazairia, Iraq’s Kazem al Saher, UAE’s Hussein El Jasmi, Lebanon’s Najwa Karam, Algerian Rai singer Cheb Khaled, and Tunisia’s Lotfi Bouchnak.

Morocco alone is participating through a numbers of artists, including Samira Said, Fethellah Lamghari, Aziza Malak, Stati, Fez City Clan, Big, Casa Crew, and many others.

"The programme will hold its head up high alongside large-scale international events, given the world's stars who had been invited for the occasion," said Aziz Daki, Mawazine’s artistic director.

Americas Stevie Wonder will perform at the closing night.

Anticipation is building and music fans are crazed by the news.

"I will do all I can to make sure I don’t miss the Stevie Wonder concert," said Abdelhakim, a trader in Casablanca. "He’s one of my favourite singers."

"As for me," said Latifa Ghoufal, a law student in Casablanca, "it’s a long-awaited opportunity to encounter some international artists, along with all the different kinds of music from around the world and to have a really good live experience."

Mawazine's main venues this year are Mohammed V theatre, Chellah, the Villa des Arts in Rabat, OLM Souissi, Bouregrag, Qamra, Hay Nahda, Place Moulay Al Hassan and Nouzhat Hassan.

To encourage artistic creativity, the festival will feature the "Mawazine Generations" competition. It will be a chance for talented musicians to display their talent, and will be open to all styles of music, songs and dancing.

There will also be street performances in Rabat, such as the Indian Maharaja Brass Band, which will entertain the young and old with acrobatics.

Last year, the festival attracted more than a million fans in nine venues, according to Mounir El Majidi, chairman of the Mawazine festival and the Maroc-Cultures Association. "And this year we hope to attract even more, to develop high-quality cultural tourism and to strengthen Rabat’s role as a city that is open to the world."

[Al-khiyal]

Moroccan rappers, rock musicians audition for Génération Mawazine contest

April 3, 2009 -- Some 280 performers from 37 Moroccan cities will take part in try-outs on Friday (April 3rd) for the upcoming "Génération Mawazine" contest, MAP reported. The groups and solo artists who make it past the semi-finals on May 9th will vie for the top prizes in rap and hip hop, rock, fusion and popular music categories during the Mawazine Festival.

[Al-khiyal]

Young Moroccan musicians vie for Mawazine Generation title

April 20, 2009 -- Since the beginning of April, some 280 performers from 37 Moroccan cities have participated in try-outs for the upcoming "Génération Mawazine" contest. The artists who make it past the semi-finals on Saturday (May 9th) will vie for the top prizes in the rap and hip hop, rock, fusion and popular music categories during the annual Mawazine World Rhythms festival, set to begin May 15th in Rabat.

The jury convoy is continuing its tour to choose the best youth bands. Its next stop will be Casablanca on April 25th. The names of winning bands in each leg, as well as information on the different stages of the competition, will be published on the internet at Génération Mawazine.

"The event, which plays an important role in shedding light on the festival, is used to produce several artistic talents and energies, and therefore, needs more attention," said jury chairman Ahmed Aydoune.

Aydoune explained that the organisers were keen to attract famous artists to meet with young talents, noting that about 287 bands were registered in the previous rounds of the competition, and that the number was likely to rise in view of young people’s interest in participating.

He confirmed that this year's winners would get the same deal as the stars from the 2008 edition: the production of a CD and a video clip of a song by the National Company for Radio and Television. The album will also be distributed to national TV channels and the winning bands will have a strong presence in next year’s festival.

The Mawazine Generation festival targets 16 to 30 year old youths. It is a competition open to all genres of music, singing and dancing, and all musical experiments with preference given to good rhythm, new musical distributions and instruments, whether accompanied by dances or not.

"The festival gives youth the opportunity to show their abilities in music genres," said Rachid, a candidate from Casablanca. Instead of getting academic training, taking dancing or singing classes, he said, "the neighbourhood is where we rehearsed and received encouragement".

"We hope that our efforts will be capped with success in the Mawazine Generation festival."

The winners of the Mawazine Generation competition last year were Mayara Fusion, Hakmin, The Stunt Boys, and Joudia.

[Al-khiyal]

Generation Mawazine semi-finalists named in Rabat

May 1, 2009 -- After auditioning hundreds of aspiring performers in 37 cities across Morocco, organisers of the Generation Mawazine competition announced on Thursday (April 30th) the 36 music groups selected to compete next week in Rabat, MAP reported. The rap and hip hop semi-finalists will compete May 7th on the Nouzhat Hassan stage, rock semi-finalists will perform May 8th and the pop music contest will be held on May 9th. The artists who make it past the semi-finals will vie for the top prizes at the 8th Mawazine World Rhythms Festival, set for May 15th-23rd in Rabat. The all-star festival line-up includes Stevie Wonder, Cheb Khaled and Alicia Keys.

[Al-khiyal]

Mawazine Festival kicks off in Rabat

May 15, 2009 -- The 8th Mawazine Festival opens Friday (May 15th) in Rabat under the theme "Rhythms of the World", MAP reported. The nine-day celebration will feature more than 1,700 Moroccan and international performers, including Warda al Jazairia, George Wassouf, Najwa Karam, Cheb Khaled, Kazem al Saher, Alicia Keys, Hoba Hoba Spirit and Casa Crew. Australian pop star Kylie Minogue will open the festival and legendary American singer Stevie Wonder will headline the closing event.

[Al-khiyal]

Maroc :
30.000 fans font un triomphe à Warda El Djazairia

Dimanche 17 Mai 2009 -- La plus grande cantatrice actuelle du monde arabe, Warda El Djazairia, « la rose algérienne », a reçu l'hommage de quelque 30.000 spectateurs samedi soir à Rabat à l'occasion de la 8e édition du festival de musique Mawazine. Pendant deux heures, la diva - vêtue d'un caftan bleu foncé assorti de bijoux - a fasciné un public venu de tout le Maroc, notamment de Casablanca, Meknès et Fès.

L'assistance, composée presque majoritairement de femmes, a dansé et chanté pendant deux heures au rythme des meilleures chansons de Warda. Warda a reçu le cordon alaouite de l'ordre de commandeur, l'une des plus importantes distinctions du royaume, et a été faite citoyenne d'honneur de Rabat, recevant symboliquement la clef de la capitale. "La musique rapproche les peuples arabes, notamment entre ceux du Maghreb", a-t-elle dit, faisant implicitement référence à la tension qui prévaut entre le Maroc et l'Algérie à cause du Sahara occidental.

Cette femme de 69 ans, née à Puteaux (région parisienne) de père algérien et de mère libanaise, a débuté sa carrière à l'âge de 15 ans, dans le cabaret de son père au Quartier latin (Saint-Michel, Paris). Elle a tenu a souligner qu'elle avait aussi chanté pour l'indépendance de
l'Algérie, après avoir quitté la France pour le Liban, puis l'Egypte. Warda El Djazairia est l'une des rares interprètes arabes à pouvoir dépasser les frontières linguistiques et musicales du monde arabe et symbolise la complémentarité entre ses deux versants, le Maghreb et le Machrek.

Quelque 1.700 artistes étrangers et marocains participent à l'édition 2009 de Mawazine, qui a commencé vendredi et se terminera le 23 mai avec un concert de Stevie Wonder. Une centaine de concerts auront lieu dans différents sites de la capitale marocaine.